Friday, March 23, 2012

The newly-remodeled North Oakland bungalow where the Black Panther Party co-founder lived with his parents and where, in the 1960s, he, Huey Newton and others drafted their 10-point manifesto, has changed hands. No word on who the new buyer is, but a real estate broker tells the Oakland Tribune that the house at 809 57th Street was to close escrow today. It was on the market for $400,000. The seller is a developer who bought it from the Seale family last October. Bobby Seale lives in Contra Costa County these days. From Seale’s 1978 autobiography:

"We would come in from patrol at night, unload our weapons at my house, and lay them all out across the long dining room table. My mother had no fear of guns, being off the farm. She would simply say, 'You-all be careful out there with them white folks 'cause they might want to hurt you-all, Bobby.'"